Climate News

UK Budget cuts more than £3bn from energy: will green heating targets be missed?

Britain is unlikely to hit its targets for green heating after the cuts announced in this week's Budget, experts have told The Guardian. Chancellor John Healey unveiled more than £3bn of cuts to the energy department's budget, much of which will pay for higher defence spending, the paper reports. Critics of Ed Miliband, the former energy secretary, say his green agenda is being dismantled.

Green heating means replacing gas boilers with low-carbon systems such as heat pumps, together with better insulation. Heating homes, mostly with gas, is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK, so the pace of this switch matters for the country's climate targets.

Carbon Brief's round-up of the Budget said Healey had set a "new course on energy" focused on keeping bills low. BBC News led on the £100 Healey announced for energy bills, and on opposition parties saying he had not been bold enough.

How each outlet framed it

• The Guardian — the climate cost: money moved from clean energy to defence, and targets likely to slip.
• Carbon Brief — the policy summary: a "new course" that puts bills first.
• BBC News — the household headline: £100 off energy bills, and the political reaction.

What we don't know yet: which heating schemes will be cut or slowed, and whether the government will change the targets themselves or simply miss them.